Cardinals Alexandria's Grant Hanson has never carded a hole-in-one before, but he did something even rarer after recording a double eagle on the Marsh's par-5 ninth hole at the Geneva Golf Club last Thursday night.
Hanson, the head professional at Geneva, was playing with Ken Jensen, Todd Bork and Andrew Wiener...
Alexandria, 56308

Alexandria Minnesota 225 7th Ave E P.O. Box 549 56308

2013-08-24 10:02:15

Alexandria's Grant Hanson has never carded a hole-in-one before, but he did something even rarer after recording a double eagle on the Marsh's par-5 ninth hole at the Geneva Golf Club last Thursday night.

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Hanson, the head professional at Geneva, was playing with Ken Jensen, Todd Bork and Andrew Wiener in league play. The group was just four holes into their round when Hanson hit a good ball off the box on No. 9. The hole was playing a little more than 500 yards and the dogleg left him about 182 yards from the pin as he approached his ball with a 5-iron for his second shot.

"It was into the wind," Hanson said. "I hit a real high ball into the wind and that's why I hit a 5-iron instead of a six. It just hopped twice and went down. It was a straight ball right in."

Hanson knew exactly what he thought had happened but couldn't be sure until he got up to the green. He had been fooled before on good shots from that distance, so he had to hold off on the celebration for a little bit.

"We saw it bounce twice and then do something goofy," he said. "I turned to them and asked, 'Did that go in or over?' We couldn't quite tell if it hopped off the back. I was pretty sure I saw it go in, but I have got my hopes up before for a hole-in-one or holing out from the fairway and then you get up there and it's over the back, so I didn't want to get my hopes too far up."

Jensen and Bork beat the other two up to the green where they looked to see if the ball had gone off the back. Once they didn't see anything, Hanson and Bork slowly made their way toward the hole where they found exactly what they were hoping for.

"It was pretty amazing," Hanson said. "It's not something that you're ever expecting. I have never even witnessed one. I've probably seen six hole-in-ones in my life. I've holed out from the fairway on par 4s before but never had a hole-in-one myself, so this was pretty exciting. It's tough to play after that when you get that excited. It's all you think about."

Estimates are not definitive but many put the odds of getting a double eagle at 1-million-to-1. The odds of getting a hole-in-one are much greater with around 40,000 aces being recorded every year. Hanson didn't witness it, but he was the assistant pro at the Alexandria Golf Club last April when AGC head pro Ron Rebrovich carded a double eagle on No. 14 at AGC.

"You have to hit a good tee ball," Hanson said. "You need to be able to hit two great shots instead of just one. That's what makes it so rare."